


drown your sorrows

by prettiestsailor



Category: Hades (Video Game 2018)
Genre: Alcohol, Also I wrote this gen but you can totally interpret it as pre-relationship if that's your thing, Gen, I don't know what they drink in the lounge so I've chosen to keep it vague, Meg is a Hypnos rights activist, Referenced Charon/Hermes, Somewhat implied Thanatos/Ares, Than gets wasted and they play fuck/marry/kill, no beta we die like zagreus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-09
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-13 06:36:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28649157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prettiestsailor/pseuds/prettiestsailor
Summary: After the Sisyphus incident, Thanatos is feeling shaken. Megaera understands the value of distraction.
Relationships: Megaera & Thanatos (Hades Video Game)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 74





	drown your sorrows

It was a lot to process, to say the least. To let his guard down was bad enough, to be deceived was even worse. And that wasn't to speak of the pain and humiliation that he had endured—and the exhaustion. By all accounts, by the time Ares finally stepped in and unchained him, Thanatos felt emotionally and physically destroyed. "To hell and back" was an understatement of the most literal kind.

And so he found himself staring down at a drink in the lounge of the House of Hades, watching the bubbles mesmerically rise and pop.

"Thanatos," a smoky voice sounded behind him: Megaera, by far the most approachable of the Furies—though that wasn't saying a whole lot, considering the manner of her sisters, Alecto and Tisiphone.

Without asking, she took a seat beside him. Thanatos was grateful—he wasn't sure he'd yet reached the point of holding conversation.

"Things have been pretty rough of late. How are you holding up?"

"I'm..." he hesitated before finishing, hearing the strained tone in his own voice and opting to avoid looking at Megaera directly, "I'm managing."

"Hmph, you don't exactly sound like it," she replied with a wry smile, "here, let me get us some more drinks. I think you're going to need something stronger than whatever that is."

* * *

Three drinks later and Thanatos was feeling decidedly less focused on Sisyphus, or work, or anything, really. Instead, he was in an unusually open mood, detailing some of his more inconsequential frustrations to Megaera.

"You should _see_ how much Hypnos slacks on the job, I swear," he said, "I caught him sleeping right next to Hades’s desk again today. Again!"

Megaera almost snorted, "And _you_ should see Tis sometimes. The way she goes to town on murderers is beyond excessive sometimes. It’s no wonder she and Alecto aren’t welcome here."

"So we both know what it’s like to have difficult family members," Thanatos said, before taking a large gulp of his drink, "but at least they care about this place, deep down. At least they’re all doing their jobs."

There was a brief pause. Thanatos felt his face fall into a frown, and he looked away and idly worried at the rim of his glass with his index finger.

"Thanatos, you know that what happened with Sisyphus wasn’t your fault, right?" Megaera asked, and the silence she’d cut through now felt heavy with the mention of Sisyphus’s name.

"I was complacent."

"The man has been deceiving people his entire mortal life—he was hardly going to stop with you."

"Maybe," Thanatos said, "but I shouldn’t have let him. I should have been more... astute."

Megaera’s eyes lit up with a sympathetic smile, "Come on, don’t think like that. Peaceful death is your domain, right? So how would you know to watch out for deception? I don't imagine that's something that comes up often in your line of work."

"I guess not," Thanatos said.

"And besides," Megaera continued, "I’ll personally see to it that his time in Tartarus is _deeply_ unpleasant."

"That’s reassuring, I suppose. You’re not someone I’d want to cross."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Megaera said, "now what do you say we get another drink?"

* * *

How many drinks deep was he? Thanatos had lost count—not that he was much for counting right now. Getting drunk hadn’t been on his agenda, on this day or any other, but he had steam to blow off. He appreciated that Megaera had silently understood that.

Megaera herself had also loosened up significantly under the influence of the lounge’s finest offerings, and their conversation had grown increasingly ridiculous.

"Okay, fuck, marry, kill," she said with a devilish smile, "Ares, Hermes, Hades."

"Megaera, you cannot possibly be asking me that."

"What’s the matter?" she said, feigning ignorance, but, of course, she clearly knew exactly what the matter was.

"Y-you cannot possibly..." Thanatos took a second to compose himself as he noticed that the room was spinning _ever_ so slightly. "You know I’ve got no choice but to kill my boss here." he said, aiming to be quiet but immediately realising he’d failed miserably.

Megaera laughed loudly.

"As for the others," Thanatos said, somewhat emboldened by her response, "Ares is... pretty good looking, isn’t he?" he felt his face heat up a little, "I mean if I’m honest, feeling him let me out of those chains w-was... was quite something..."

"Thanatos, please let me get you drunk more often," Megaera managed between laughs.

Nonetheless, Thanatos was determined to finish his point, "And I guess that leaves Hermes for marriage. But between you and me," he leaned over to whisper, realising how intoxicated he was—it was far from typical for him to be so forthcoming, "I’m pretty sure Charon would kill me himself if I got between the two of them."

"Charon and Hermes?" Megaera asked, raising an eyebrow, "I didn’t see that one coming."

" _Please_ do not tell anyone."

"I won’t. But now you’ve got to give me one."

"Give you what?"

"Fuck, marry, kill."

Thanatos drew a breath, "Charon, while we’re on the topic." he paused for a second, "Then Hypnos... and... the Minotaur."

"The _Minotaur_?" Megaera burst out laughing once again, even more than before. Thanatos finally joined in. "How am I supposed to answer that?"

"I don’t know. All I know is that I’m waiting."

"Well, I think I’m going to have to fuck the Minotaur."

"Alright," Thanatos smiled slightly, "which of my brothers are you going to kill, then?"

"You’re the worst," Megaera hesitated, and downed the rest of her drink, "I marry Charon for the money. Sorry, Hypnos."

"Charon isn't really one to share his wealth, but otherwise, I can’t say I fault your reasoning."

"You’re such a brat, Thanatos," Megaera said teasingly. "Hypnos is a very sweet guy."

"You don’t have to be his _twin_ ," Thanatos said. "You do not know the half of it."

"Enlighten me, then."

* * *

The conversation spread out over a number of hours, until, eventually, Megaera stood up.

"Are you in the right cognitive state to get back to collecting the dead?"

"Just about," Thanatos said—the alcohol had largely worn off at this point: a small perk of godhood, "If I make any errors, I’m sure you’ll hear of it soon enough."

"You won’t. You’re not someone who makes errors."

That brought a smile to Thanatos’s face. "Thank you, Megaera, for giving me this distraction."

"You’re welcome. And rest assured that I’ll be giving our prisoner a hard time from here on out."

"I expect nothing less from you," Thanatos gave Megaera a slight smile before he got up off his seat, "and let’s do this again some time."

**Author's Note:**

> So I got some dialogue about how Than and Meg have been close since everything went down with Sisyphus, and the writing worms would not leave my brain until I wrote this. I just think their dynamic is really neat!


End file.
